Mangled: A MadPat Origin Story

1

 Matthew Patrick stared at the front page of The New York Times and furrowed his brow. Big, bold letters read, "Doctors Prove Video Games Harmful to Youth -- YouTubers Left Devastated". He crumpled up the page and tossed it into a trash bin across the room. "Bullshit," he muttered under his breath as he rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Three days ago, a group of of psychologists had released data from a study about children playing video games and the direct correlation between the amount of exposure and percent of participants who grew up to show signs of sociopathy. The results were alarming. Within hours, the study had spread all over the world like wildfire.

The public's reaction to psychologists' discovery was even worse. Angry parents threw every video game-related thing in their child's possession away and bombarded developers with furious remarks and accusing questions. Even video game forums and blogs were caught in the crossfire.

YouTube was arguably hit the hardest, being threatened to ban gaming videos and personalities or face being sued. The website didn't even think twice before doing exactly as the public wanted: prohibiting every gaming-related channel from uploading content ever again and deleting every single one of their existing videos.

Small gaming channels with few subscribers were upset about this decision but weren't serious enough about YouTube to protest. Popular channels, on the other hand, were especially wounded. Without any videos, they would cease to earn money from ads and sponsorships, the two biggest things keeping them afloat in the world.

For the second time in only two days, YouTube was pelted with angry emails. The major gaming channels were frantically trying to convince officials to let their videos go back online, but they refused to budge.

Today, many were still attempting to sway the admins, but Matt was sure that their efforts would prove fruitless. Instead, he had started preparing for the inevitable future. The night before, he contacted tens of decently-paying jobs in the area only to be rejected almost immediately the next morning. Some had even responded by calling him a "child killer" which almost made him laugh. Obviously, information had gotten mixed up somewhere.

His wife, Stephanie, had more luck than he did with getting a job offer. After what seemed like thousands of emails and hours of phone calls, she had gotten herself an interview for an accounting job only a few blocks away.

"Hey, Steph!" Matt called from the couch in their living room.

"Yeah?"

"You're sure that you've secured that interview next week, right?"

"Yes," she breathed, annoyance evident in her voice. "I've reassured you at least a hundred times by now." She stepped into the living room and leaned against the wall. "So, no good news yet, huh?"

The YouTuber looked down, his chestnut hair drooping over his face. "Nope," he replied. "I hear the few others actually preparing for the near future haven't had much luck either." He pursed his lips. "Oh!" Matt's eyes lit up with an idea. Steph looked at him with anticipation. "I heard Sparklypants was able to get a job at some hardware store in South LA. It's not the best, but I'm guessing he could work his way through the ranks. Steph! I have a theory--"

"--Matt! Douchebag speech! Remember?"

"Hey, it might be one of the last times that I'll be able to say it without someone giving me a dirty look! Now where was I..." Steph raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes. I have a theory... a try to get a job even though it sucks to avoid bankruptcy theory!"

Matt pulled his laptop off the coffee and started typing. Steph sat down beside him and glanced at the screen. "So, you're going to apply for some job at a McDonald's or a Freddy Fazbear's, right?" She asked, half-jokingly.